Green riding

May 16, 20133 comments

There’s a trend going on about bicycles made of bamboo. It’s not a new invention, but they’re getting quite a bit of press lately and I find the concept so cool. I started paying attention after I traveled in India and noticed those jaw-dropping scaffoldings made of bamboo, going up so high. Even in super-modern Singapore, they use bamboo scaffolding sometimes.

Bamboo is extremely sturdy, and well suited for the making of bicycles because of its unique shock-absorbing qualities (great on those bumpy roads). In terms of load bearing capacity, a square inch of bamboo can carry a weight of 500 pounds!

In London and New York, there are BYOBB clubs as in Build Your Own Bamboo Bicycle based on the idea that”If you can build an Ikea desk, you can build your own bamboo bicycle“. Ok, that’s a big IF for Ceki and I!!

I’d actually prefer to buy mine from one of the great initiatives out of Ghana, such as Ghana Bamboo Bikes, Bamboosero (see the link for a very easy explanation on cost & benefits to the people who build them in Africa). Or the super stylish and nicely marketed BlackStar Bamboo Bikes (photos on the post) sold out of the mecca of all bikes, the Netherlands, and also made in Ghana. Climate change, poverty, rural-urban migration and high unemployment amongst the youth in rural Ghana, those are all good reasons to get a bamboo bike.

The Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative seeks to break the status quo in the development of a bicycle industry in Ghana and train people with little or no education in the manufacturing and assembling of bamboo bikes.